RADICAL ISLAM ON UK CAMPUSES
A Comprehensive List of Extremist Speakers at UK Universities
Radical Islam
on UK Campuses
A Co m p re h e n s i ve L i s t
of E x t re m i s t S p e a k e r s
at U K U ni ve r si ti e s
The Centre for Social Cohesion
2010
The Centre for Social Cohesion
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Email: [email protected]
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The Centre for Social Cohesion
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© The Centre for Social Cohesion April 2010
All the Centre’s publications seek to further its objective of
promoting human rights for the benefit of the public.
The views expressed are those of the author,
not of the Centre.
Radical Islam on UK campuses
ISBN 978-0-9560013-7-5
All rights reserved
Contents
Preface
Introduction v
vii
Radicalisation on campus
1
ISOC presidents and members involved in terrorism in the UK 1
Students at British universities convicted of Islamism-inspired
terrorist offences 2
Other cases involving radicalisation at UK universities 4
Radical preachers on UK campuses
7
University College London 7
Queen Mary University
16
City University 19
School of Oriental and African Studies 22
King’s College London
25
University of East London 25
London School of Economics 26
Imperial College London 26
Goldsmiths
27
University of Westminster 27
Kingston University London 27
London South Bank University
28
Northumbria University
28
University of Birmingham 28
Federation of Student Islamic Societies 29
Muslim opinion on campus 31
Islam on Campus – Centre for Social Cohesion/YouGov survey, 2008
31
Effects of active Islamic-Society membership on attitudes towards
key issues 32
Reactions to the report
35
Preface
For many years it has been clear that British university campuses are breeding
grounds of Islamic extremism. Omar Sheikh was radicalised in the 1990s while
studying at the London School of Economics (LSE). In 2002 he was responsible
for the murder of the Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl. The following year
two undergraduates just across the road from LSE, at King’s College London,
went to Israel to become suicide bombers in a bar in Tel Aviv. More recently, in
2007, Kafeel Ahmed – a former student and senior member of the Islamic Society
at Queen’s University Belfast - died while trying to detonate explosives outside
of Glasgow airport.
In 2008, the Centre for Social Cohesion commissioned an in-depth and ground
breaking study into attitudes towards Islam on British Campuses. Still the most
comprehensive such study, ‘Islam on Campus’ discovered, among other things,
that students who are active in their university Islamic society were twice as likely
as non-members to hold extreme views, including that killing in the name of
their religion is justified.
Since then the Centre has attempted to warn policy-makers and political leaders
in the UK of the increasing radicalisation of UK campuses. Repeatedly in recent
years we have been in communication with university vice-Chancellors and others in a position to stop this situation, warning them about extremist speakers,
terrorist-supporters, and enablers of terrorism who are appearing on their campuses. With a few exceptions these warnings and expressions of concern have
gone unaddressed. Though public and press concern over this issue is growing,
our warnings have been repeatedly ignored by political leaders, university heads
and national student bodies. All have been in a position to stop this hate. All have
failed.
Since the revelation that the Christmas Day Bomber, Umar Farouk Adbulmutallab,
was radicalised at University College London, the Centre has decided to follow
up our 2008 report with a resource demonstrating the astonishing carelessness
and indifference still shown by University bodies towards the threat of radical
Islam. This report provides the first comprehensive list of extremist speakers who
have addressed audiences on British campuses since the Centre last wrote about
v
Radical Islam on UK campuses
this issue. The speakers have often appeared despite the full prior knowledge of
university authorities of the presence of such speakers and, provided by us, full
knowledge of such speakers’ views.
In the days and months following the attempted terror attack on Christmas Day,
the Centre has been at the forefront of the debate on what role Universities
should play in ensuring that British students do not fall victim to the ideology of
violent Islamism.
Islamic extremism on campuses not only continues unabated, it continues – as
this report demonstrates – to flourish.
We hope that now the government and university authorities will finally act before a generation of students continues to be prey to an intolerant, separatist
and violent ideology which threatens our society and the lives of not just of our
citizens, but – as was shown again on Christmas Day – those of our allies and
friends.
Douglas Murray
Director, Centre for Social Cohesion
April, 2010
vi
Introduction
Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, the 23 year old Nigerian responsible for the failed
bombing of Northwest Airlines flight 253 on Christmas Day, was a mechanical
engineering and business finance student at University College London (UCL)
from 2005-08. He was president of the student union’s Islamic Society (ISOC) in
the academic year 2006-07.
In 2008 the Security Service’s Joint Terrorism Analysis Centre included UCL in a
list of 12 universities that may have a problem with ‘extremism’.1 According to
government officials, Abulmutallab’s views are believed to have hardened while
studying for his degree at UCL.2
Abdulmutallab is the not the first student at a UK university to become involved
in violent Islamism. In recent years there have been several high-profile cases
where students or graduates took part in Islamism-inspired terrorist attacks or
were convicted for terrorist offences. Centre for Social Cohesion (CSC) analysis
of Islamist terrorism in the last decade shows that at least 30% of individuals
involved in Islamism-inspired terrorist acts in the UK have attended university or
a higher education institute.3
A 2008 CSC/YouGov poll, Islam on Campus, highlighted the widespread nature
of political Islam on UK campuses, particularly among active ISOC members.
The report was widely dismissed by the National Union of Students (NUS), the
Federation of Student Islamic Societies (FOSIS)4, and the then Higher Education
Minister Bill Rammell.5 In fact, many of those involved in higher education continue to deny that there is anything more than isolated cases of extremism on
1 Detroit bomber mixed with radical preachers in Britain’, Daily Telegraph, 5 January 2010
2 ‘MI5 knew of Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab’s UK extremist links’, The Times, 3 January 2010
3 Forthcoming CSC report, Islamist Terrorism: The British Connections
4 FOSIS is an umbrella organisation of ISOCs in colleges and universities throughout the UK and Ireland
5 FOSIS Press Release: ‘FOSIS & NUS Criticises Report by Centre for Social Cohesion’, FOSIS press release, 27 July
2008, available at http://fosis.org.uk/media/press-releases/339-fosis-a-nus-criticises-report-by-centre-for-socialcohesion; ‘Joint Statement Between Islamic Societies and FOSIS in Response to Islam on Campus Report’, FOSIS
press release, 30 July 2008, available at http://fosis.org.uk/media/press-releases/343-joint-statement-betweenislamic-societies-and-fosis-in-response-to-islam-on-campus-report; ‘Fostering free debate’, letter from Bill Rammell
MP, The Times Higher Education Supplement, 7 August 2008
vii
Radical Islam on UK campuses
UK campuses.6
In response to the failed plot a spokesman for FOSIS, Faisal Hanjra, said that,
‘There remains no evidence to suggest that Muslim students are at particular risk
of radicalisation or that university campuses are vulnerable to people seeking to
recruit to this extreme ideology.’7 Hanjra has also stated:
Since 7/7, since 2005, up to today, there has been not a single piece of
evidence to suggest that universities or Islamic societies are breeding
grounds in any way, for radicalisation or extremism, and our stance, the
Muslim community’s stance against this has been vindicated to that extent, that there hasn’t been a single case which suggests that a Muslim
student has gone on to a university campus, studied there for three years,
and has come out a terrorist.8
In reality, Muslim students in the UK are increasingly being exposed to an intolerant, politicised, and in some cases violent, interpretation of their faith with
extremist speakers regularly invited to address students on UK campuses.
6 ‘UCL head: London colleges must let extremists speak’, Evening Standard, 25 January 2010
7 FOSIS Press Release: ‘FOSIS comments on media reports regarding terror suspect’, 29 December 2009
8 Faisal Hanjra interviewed on Islam Channel, 25 October 2009, available at http://www.youtube.com/
watch?v=4uoxjNSsDuQ
viii
Radicalisation on campus
A significant number of students and graduates from UK universities have committed acts of terrorism or have been convicted for terrorism related offences, in
the UK and abroad. More than 30% of individuals (30.71%) involved in Islamist
terrorism in the UK were educated to degree level or higher. Of these, 19 individuals studied at a UK university; 16 were graduates; three were postgraduate
students and one had achieved a postgraduate qualification.9
At least four individuals involved in acts of terrorism in the UK were senior members of their university ISOC and a further six were studying at a UK university at
the time of arrest. In a number of terrorism cases both in the UK and worldwide
the individuals involved were reportedly radicalised on UK campuses.
ISOC presidents and senior members involved in terrorism
in the UK:
●
Kafeel Ahmed – Glasgow airport suicide attack, 30 June 2007
Kafeel Ahmed died in August 2007 after driving a burning jeep packed with explosive material into Glasgow airport on 30th June of that same year. Kafeel’s accomplice, Bilal Abdulla, convicted of conspiracy to murder and cause explosions
in December 2008, was said to have been the mastermind of the cell, which
is reported to have been inspired by ‘al-Qaeda in Iraq’.10 The cell also planted
failed car bombs in the West End of London the day before the Glasgow attack.
Ahmed completed an MSc in aeronautical engineering at Queen’s University Belfast, where he served on the executive of the university Islamic society and was
involved with the Islamic Student Society of Northern Ireland (ISSNI). Security
9 Forthcoming CSC research shows that between 1999 and 2009 in the UK 119 British or foreign nationals have
been convicted in relation to Islamism inspired terrorism offences, three of whom have each been convicted of
offences on two separate occasions. In each of these cases the two instances of conviction have been counted
separately. Therefore the total number of convictions is 122. Furthermore, there have been two suicide attacks
(the 7 July 2005 London bombings and the Glasgow airport attack in June 2007) in which a total of five perpetrators were killed. As such all data relate to a base total of 127 individual convictions or individuals killed in suicide
attacks. Cases involving retrials have not been counted.
10 ‘Glasgow bomber Bilal Abdulla was in Iraq terrorist cell’, The Times, 17 December 2008
1
Radical Islam on UK campuses
sources suggest that Ahmed was radicalised while studying for a PhD in computational fluid dynamics at Anglia Ruskin University in Cambridge. During the
time, he shared a house with members of Islamist group Hizb ut-Tahrir.
●
Waseem Mughal – Inciting murder for terrorist purposes overseas, 2 July
2007
Waseem Mughal, a member of the University of Leicester Islamic society, was
convicted of inciting murder for terrorist purposes overseas. His conviction
was based on material posted on extremist websites, which were created and
fraudulently funded by Mughal and his co-accused Tariq al-Daour and Younes
Tsouli from June 2005 until their arrest in October 2005. Mughal, who had a firstclass degree in biochemistry from the University of Leicester, was studying for a
Master’s there at the time of his arrest and ran the University of Leicester ISOC
website.
●
Yassin Nassari – Possession for terrorist purposes, 13 July 2007
Following trips to Syria and Holland, Yassin Nassari was arrested in May 2006 at
Luton Airport, after a blueprint for the al-Qassam rocket used by Hamas militants
in the Gaza strip against nearby Israeli towns was found in his luggage. Police
also found a computer hard-drive in his luggage containing documents about
martyrdom and weapons training, as well as recordings of lectures by extremist
clerics. A cognitive science student, Nassari was president of the University of
Westminster Harrow campus ISOC.
●
Waheed Zaman – ‘Transatlantic liquid bomb’ plot, 21 July 2008
Waheed Zaman was part of an al-Qaeda-inspired East London cell that planned
to simultaneously detonate homemade liquid bombs on transatlantic flights in
2006. He admitted conspiracy to cause public nuisance. Zaman was a biomedical
science student and formerly the president of London Metropolitan University’s
student ISOC, in whose offices literature and audio cassettes from the radical
group al-Muhajiroun were found.
Students at British universities convicted of
Islamism-inspired terrorist offences:
●
Amer Mirza – Attempted arson, 5 March 1999
2
Radicalisation on campus
Amer Mirza, a Humberside University accountancy student, was convicted in
1999 of petrol-bombing a Territorial Army base in West London. According to
the trial judge, Mirza – a member of al-Muhajiroun – was acting in protest at the
resumption of the American bombing campaign in Iraq in December 1998.
●
Mohammed Naveed Bhatti – ‘Dirty bomb’ plot, 18 April 2007
Mohammed Naveed Bhatti, convicted of conspiracy to cause explosions, had
a junior role in Dhiren Barot’s ‘dirty bomb’ plot cell, which was planning to attack a series of targets in the US and the UK, including financial buildings and
the London Underground. At the time of his arrest, Bhatti, who had a degree
in systems engineering from Brunel University, was studying for a postgraduate
qualification in finite-element modelling and analysis at Brunel. Bhatti met cell
leader Barot in Brunel University’s prayer room in 2001.
●
Omar Abdur Rehman – ‘Dirty bomb’ plot, 25 April 2007
Omar Abdur Rehman, convicted of conspiracy to cause explosions, also had a
junior role in Dhiren Barot’s ‘dirty bomb’ plot cell. At the time of his arrest, Rehman was studying for a degree in graphic-information design at the University of
Westminster. It is possible he knew Yassin Nassari who was convicted in July 2007
of possession for terrorist purposes. Nassari was president of Westminster ISOC
and signed a book of support for Rehman.
●
Mohammed Atif Siddique – Weapons training for terrorism and dissemination of terrorist publications, 17 September 2007
Mohammed Atif Siddique distributed an array of jihadist material that glorified
violence and suicide bombing, as well as al-Qaeda propaganda footage and
bomb-making instructions. Originally also convicted of possession for terrorist purposes, Siddique was acquitted of this charge in February 2010. Siddique
was additionally found guilty of breach of peace for showing images of suicide
bombers and beheadings to fellow students at Glasgow Metropolitan College,
where he was studying for a Higher National Certificate in information and communication technology.
●
Muluemebet Girma – 21/7 conspirators, 11 June 2008
Muluemebet Girma was convicted of offences pertaining to the 21/7 failed suicide attacks in central London in 2005. Girma had failed to disclose information
3
Radical Islam on UK campuses
about the intended detonation of a suicide bomb on an underground train near
Shepherd’s Bush station by her brother-in-law, Hussain Osman. She was also
convicted of assisting Osman after the attack by providing him with accommodation, medical care and transportation. Girma had just completed a degree in
pharmaceutical science at the University of Brighton.
●
Mohammed Abushamma – Preparation of terrorist acts, 28 November
2008
Mohammed Abushamma admitted applying for a visa to Afghanistan in order
to join the mujahideen fighting against coalition forces. He was attempting to
travel to Afghanistan via Turkey when he was apprehended by anti-terror police
near Ankara, Turkey. Abushamma was a science undergraduate at UCL.
Other cases involving radicalisation at UK universities:
●
Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh – masterminding the kidnapping and murder of Daniel Pearl, 15 July 2002
Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh was convicted in 2002 by a Pakistani court of the
murder that year of Daniel Pearl, an American journalist for The Wall Street Journal.
A former maths and statistics student at the London School of Economics (LSE),
Sheikh had reportedly been involved with both the university’s ISOC and with
the radical Islamist group Hizb ut-Tahrir. Sheikh was one of at least three al-Qaeda-linked terrorists who had studied at LSE during the early 1990s, according to
British security sources in 2002. ‘A number of students were brainwashed by outsiders’, said one ISOC committee member, ‘…they did become very extreme.’11
●
Omar Sharif – Tel Aviv suicide attack, 30 April 2003
Asif Mohammed Hanif and Omar Khan Sharif carried out a suicide bombing that
killed three and wounded 65 at a bar in Tel Aviv, Israel in April 2003. Sharif was set
to detonate a bomb with Hanif, but when the device failed he fled the scene; he
was found drowned 12 days later. Sharif became increasingly radicalised while
at university, attending several Hizb ut-Tahrir meetings at King’s College London
– especially those delivered by the then al-Muhajiroun leader Omar Bakri and
Mohammed al-Massari of the Committee for the Defence of Legitimate Rights,
11 ‘Al-Qa’eda terror trio linked to London School of “Extremists”’, Daily Telegraph, 27 January 2002
4
Radicalisation on campus
a group that sought the overthrow of the Saudi government. Reza Pankhurst,
a member of Hizb ut-Tahrir who spent three and a half years in prison in Egypt,
was said to have become a mentor to Sharif, and was extremely active on his
campus.
●
Omar Khyam – ‘Fertiliser bomb’ plot, 30 April 2007
Omar Khyam, convicted of conspiracy to cause explosions and possessing materials for the purposes of terrorism, led the Crawley cell responsible for the ‘fertiliser bomb’ plot in the UK whioch targeted shopping centres and nightclubs in
the UK. In surveillance tapes later released to the media, an associate of Khyam’s
was recorded asking him, ‘How many brothers are there active in this country?
How many are actually planning things, and doing them here?’ Khyam responded with: ‘There’s a lot of people who agree with it now, especially at, you know,
Brunel University at Friday prayer. There, yeah, just blatant bro, in the sermon in
front of hundreds of students bro. And you could see that people were like, they
were agreeing with everything you know.’12
●
Anthony Garcia [aka Rahman Adam] – ‘Fertiliser bomb’ plot, 30 April
2007
A member of the Crawley ‘fertiliser’ cell, Anthony Garcia was convicted of conspiracy to cause explosions and possessing money or other property for the
purposes of terrorism. Algerian-born Garcia began to attend religious talks in the
late 1990s at the University of East London ISOC. He went with his brother, who,
unlike Garcia, was enrolled as a student at the university. During the trial the
court heard that Garcia gradually became radicalised between 1998 and 2003
after seeing a video at the ISOC showing alleged atrocities in Kashmir. He went
on to join the radical group al-Muhajiroun.
●
Jawad Akbar – ‘Fertiliser bomb’ plot, 30 April 2007
Jawad Akbar, also a member of the Crawley ‘fertiliser’ cell, was convicted of
conspiracy to cause explosions. Akbar began to attend al-Muhajiroun meetings
while studying for a four-year MSc in mathematics, technology and design at
Brunel University. The university refused to comment on Akbar’s case but denied
that Islamic prayer meetings on campus were used for recruiting extremists.
12 O’Neill, S., ‘Extremists who prey on impressionable minds’, The Times, 22 January 2008
5
Radical preachers on UK campuses
Since 7/7 a wide range of Islamist speakers have either regularly addressed students at UK universities, or have been otherwise promoted by ISOCs. In the vast
majority of cases, these guests are given open and unchallenged platforms, and
are presented as mainstream representatives of Islam.
Speakers include supporters of the proscribed terrorist group Hamas and members of Hizb ut-Tahrir, a group subject to a National Union of Students (NUS) ban.
Also included are those who: have spoken in support of armed jihad and the
Taliban; warned Muslims not to integrate into western societies; argued in favour
of domestic violence and; advocated the destruction of Israel.
The following is a breakdown by university of extremists invited by ISOCs and
other student societies.
University College London (UCL)
Abu Usama adh Dhahabee (aka Abu Usama, Abu Usamah at-Thahabi): was
invited by the ISOC to speak on 1 February 2008 and 6 September 2009.13 He
was also due to speak on 30 November 2009, but the event was cancelled after
pressure was exerted on UCL authorities by campaign groups.14
Dhahabee advocates holy war in an Islamic state; preaches hatred against nonMuslims; that apostasy and homosexuality are punishable by death; and that
women are inferior to men. In a 2007 Channel 4 documentary Dhahabee was
recorded as saying the following to his congregation:
We ask Allah to bring about the means and the ways in which the Muslims will get the power and the honour of repelling the oppression of the
kuffaar, where we can go out and perform the jihad. We ask Allah to bring
13 http://www.ummah.com/forum/showthread.php?t=157463; http://forums.islamicawakening.com/f21/
sunday-6th-sep-ucl-isoc-national-conference-shaykh-haitham-abu-usamah-zahir-mahmoud-abu-suhaib-27790/
[both accessed 13/1/10]
14 ‘Anti-Gay’ cleric talk cancelled’, BBC News, 25/11/2009
7
Radical Islam on UK campuses
that time so we can be participants in that.
No one loves the kuffaar. No one loves the kuffaar! [unbelievers] […]
Whether these kuffaar are from the UK, or from the US … We love the
people of Islam and we hate the people of the kufr. We hate the kuffaar.
Whoever changes his religion from al-Islam to anything else kill him in the
Islamic state. Do you practise homosexuality with men? Take that homosexual man
and throw him off the mountain. Allah has created the woman, even if she gets a PhD, deficient. Her intellect is incomplete, deficient. She may be suffering from hormones that
will make her emotional. It takes two witnesses of a woman to equal one
witness of the man.15
Following the broadcast, Dhahabee was interviewed by Channel 4 News, where
he refused to reject these statements.
Abdur Raheem Green: was invited to by the ISOC to speak on 23 November
2005, 4 October 2006, and on 22 January 2009.16 He has spoken in favour of
domestic violence, saying that a husband may use, ‘… physical force… a very
light beating’ against his wife and has argued that, ‘Islam is not compatible with
democracy’.17 According to New Zealand’s NZ Herald, Green was banned from
Australia in 2005 because of his extremist pronouncements. The article also
quotes him as saying, ‘The truth is that Islam teaches its followers to seek death
on the battlefield, that dying while fighting jihad is one of the surest ways to
paradise and Allah’s good pleasure.’18
Haitham al-Haddad: was invited by the ISOC to speak on 2 November 2007
15 ‘Undercover Mosque’, Channel 4 Dispatches, first aired January 15 2007, transcript available at http://www.
newenglishreview.org/custpage.cfm?frm=5508&sec_id=5508 [accessed 13/1/2010]
16 http://www.uclisoc.com/list/index.php?f=archive&val=67&nl=1&opt=view; http://www.uclisoc.com/files/pow.
pdf; Centre for Social Cohesion Press Briefing 19 February 2009 [accessed 13/1/2010]; UCL ISOC advert, Ummah.
com forum, 22 January 2009, available at http://www.ummah.com/forum/showthread.php?t=199301 [accessed
19/01/2010]
17 ‘UK to shift anti-terror strategy’, BBC News, 16/2/2009
18 ‘Muslim Convert Rejects Radical Label’, NZ Herald, 10 August 2005
8
Radical preachers on UK campuses
and 6 September 2009.19 Al-Haddad openly supports Hamas and advocates the
abolition of Israel:
My proposed solution for the Israelis is to leave Palestine and to go back
to their own countries to live in peace. If they want to live in peace, in real
peace, they should leave Palestine and leave it for the Palestinians and
those Jews who would like to live in Palestine, but under the Palestinian
government, not under the Israeli government.20
Riyadh ul-Haq: was invited by the ISOC to speak on 9 November 2005.21
Speaking on the topic of Israel, ul-Haq has previously called for Muslims to: ‘…be
willing to sacrifice anything that may be required of us’.22 Claiming that al-Aqsa
Mosque in Jerusalem must be liberated, he said, ‘We are willing to die in the
process…’, and that when called upon, ‘…we will consider it an honour and a
privilege to shed our blood’. He stated that Allah has promised that Islam will, ‘…
prevail over all other religions, even though the disbelievers may dislike it’.23
Ul-Haq has previously supported the Taliban, stating in 2000 that they are, ‘…the
only group of people upon the earth who are establishing the Sharia and the law
of Allah.’24 In 2001, ul-Haq said:
What crime has the Government of Afghanistan committed? All they
have done is they have refused to hand over a person (Osama bin Laden)
whose guilt is yet to be proven. Because of that crime, the entire nation
is being punished. And as a result, because they strive to represent Islam,
the whole of Islam is being demonised. And as a result, Muslims all over
the globe are being discriminated against.
Ul-Haq has also made anti-Semitic statements, warned against integration, and
labelled the ‘culture’ of non-Muslims as ‘evil’:
Allah has warned us in the Koran, do not befriend the kuffar, do not align
19 http://forums.islamicawakening.com/f21/sunday-6th-sep-ucl-isoc-national-conference-shaykh-haitham-abuusamah-zahir-mahmoud-abu-suhaib-27790/
20 ‘Truth exposed – Victory for Hamas’, Haitham al-Haddad, 26 January 2009, available at http://www.youtube.
com/watch?v=6-QBz_7_AvM [accessed 13/1/2010]
21 http://www.uclisoc.com/list/index.php?f=archive&val=5&nl=1&opt=view [accessed 13/1/2010]
22 ‘The homegrown cleric who loathes the British’, The Times, 7 September 2007
23 Ibid.
24 Ibid.
9
Radical Islam on UK campuses
yourselves with the kuffar.
[…] Today, the culture of Coke and the Big Mac, the culture of the Americans, the culture of the Europeans, these cultures are dominant and they
are all pervasive. We stand in awe of their culture and we are imitating
them in everything. This culture, this evil influence, this imitation of the
kuffar […]
They’re all the same. The Jews don’t have to be in Israel to be like this. It
doesn’t matter whether they’re in New York, Houston, St Louis, London,
Birmingham, Bradford, Manchester. They’re all the same. They’ve monopolised everything: the Holocaust, God, money, interest, usury, the world
economy, the media, political institutions […] they monopolised tyranny
and oppression as well. And injustice.
A Jew is generally allowed to kill a non-Jew without fear of punishment,
repercussions, neither in this world or the hereafter.25
Murtaza Khan (aka Abu Hasnayn Murtaza Khan): regularly speaks to university ISOCs. On 6 September 2009, he was invited by the UCL ISOC to speak.26
Khan advocates extreme intolerance towards non-Muslims. In a 2007 Channel 4
documentary, Khan asked a Muslim audience:
For how long do we have to see our mothers, sisters and daughters having to uncover themselves before these filthy non-Muslim doctors? We
should have a sense of shame.27
Khan was invited by the ISOC on other occasions, including 22 November 2005, 5
February 2007, and 7 December 2007.28 Khan currently teaches Islamic Studies at
Al Noor primary school in London and is described as a ‘visiting khateeb’ (person
who delivers the Friday Islamic prayer sermons) at the University of East London
(UEL).29
Uthman Lateef (aka Abu Mujahid): regularly speaks to university ISOCs. He was
25 ‘Riyadh ul Haq sermon on “Jewish Fundamentalism” in full’, Times Online, 6 September 2007
26 http://forums.islamicawakening.com/f21/sunday-6th-sep-ucl-isoc-national-conference-shaykh-haitham-abuusamah-zahir-mahmoud-abu-suhaib-27790/ [accessed 13/1/2010]
27 ‘Undercover Mosque’, Channel 4 Dispatches, broadcast January 15 2007
28 UCL ISOC Website, available at http://www.uclisoc.com/list/index.php?f=archive&val=97&nl=1&opt=view;
http://www.uclisoc.com/list/index.php?f=archive&val=13&nl=1&opt=view [accessed 13/1/2010]
29 Al Ghuraaba Home Page, http://www.alghurabaa.org/lectures/murtaza-khan/ [accessed 13/1/2010]
10
Radical preachers on UK campuses
invited by UCL ISOC to speak on 25 February 2008 and on 13 February 2009.30
He was recorded at an event organised by Queen Mary University ISOC on 12
December 2007 telling his audience: 31
We don’t accept homosexuality […] we hate it because Allah hates it.
[…]
We excommunicate people when they transgress their limits of God and
ascribe partners to him or disbelieve in him […] Look at the dangers of
compromise, look at the dangers of appeasement, when you accept
something from an alien or foreign tradition that is not from the core religion, down the line, decades, centuries, millennium [sic] after that, you’re
going to get a very rotten apple.32
On 1 January 2009, Lateef spoke at an event in the East London Mosque entitled
‘The End of Time’. During his talk he criticised Muslims who work with non-Muslim
governments, suggesting they are apostates:
Brothers, if we are teaching the way of life of the disbelievers, of the kuffar, Allah will bring humiliation upon us. If we are seeking this name and
fame, and to be pranced around the world as some kind of government
spokesmen and representatives, speaking about this reformed and redefined and repackaged Islam, Allah will bring humiliation upon people like
that. And be careful. Because people will be in that condition, that they
will wake up as muqimeen (believers) but they will go to sleep as kuffars.
And they will go to sleep as muqimeen and they will wake up as kuffars.
In the same talk he also condemned the notion of a secular Islam:
They tell you about a secular Islam, right? Islamic secularism. New Islam.
They will sell you a democratic Islam, a socialist Islam, a social democratic
Islam, every Islam except the Islam of Mohammed. A new talk. Beware of
30 ‘New Government counter-radicalisation strategy undermined on UK campuses’, Centre for Social Cohesion Press Briefing, 19 February 2009; see also http://www.uclisoc.com/list/archive_inc.php?id=167 [accessed
14/1/2010]
31 Queen Mary ISOC advert on Ummah.com forum, available at www.ummah.com/forum/showthread.
php?t=151035 [accessed 13/1/2009]
32 ‘Islam on Campus’, Centre for Social Cohesion, June 2008, available at http://www.socialcohesion.co.uk/
files/1231525079_1.pdf
11
Radical Islam on UK campuses
the new things. The redefined, repackaged Islam. The so-called Islam that
speaks of abolition of sharia, like we don’t need sharia anymore. The socalled Islam that speaks about the fact that sovereignty does not belong
to Allah. The so-called Islam that speaks about the fact that, you know, we
don’t need the laws of Islam anymore. There is no politics in Islam. We’ve
got to separate these two things. So beware of them and your fathers
should beware of them. Don’t let these people be a cause of misguidance
for you.33
Daud Abdullah: was reported by the UCL ISOC as having spoken at a 2006 event
entitled ‘War on Error’.34 Abdullah is the deputy secretary-general of the Muslim
Council of Britain (MCB). In March 2009, the then Communities Minister Hazel
Blears cut ties with the MCB because of Abdullah’s endorsement of a statement
which supported an uncompromising jihad against Israel.35 Included in the statement to which Abdullah put his name, was a rejection of all Middle East peace
initiatives in favour of violent jihad:
We affirm in full conviction that the Palestinian Authority, whose mandate
is coming to an end, is not eligible to represent the Palestinian people. It
stands outside the will of its people, and has given up the choice of jihad
in the way of Allah…
We affirm in full conviction that the so-called Arab peace initiative is a
proven betrayal of the Islamic Nation and the Palestinian cause…36
Taji Mustafa: is currently media spokesman for Hizb ut-Tahrir and is a member of
its national executive. He was invited by the ISOC to speak on 25 November 2005,
despite the group being banned by the NUS since 2004.37
Azzam al-Tamimi: was invited by the ISOC to speak on two occasions in February 2009. The events were cancelled after the CSC informed university authorities
of al-Tamimi’s extremist views.38
33 Speech at ‘End of Time’ Event, East London Mosque, 1 January 2009, available at http://www.youtube.com/
watch?v=fAsHc8mFdbY [accessed 16/4/2010]
34 This event was advertised on the UCL ISOC website until December 2009. Saved versions of the page are in
possession of the CSC
35 Hazel Blears MP, ‘Our shunning of the MCB is not grand standing’, Comment is Free, 25 March 2009
36 Full statement in possession of the CSC
37 UCL ISOC Website, available at http://www.uclisoc.com/list/index.php?f=archive&val=13&nl=1&opt=view
[accessed 14/1/2010]
38 UCL ISOC Website, available at http://www.uclisoc.com/list/archive_inc.php?id=262 [accessed 14/1/2010]
12
Radical preachers on UK campuses
Al-Tamimi describes himself as a, ‘…sympathiser and supporter of Hamas…’39 and
has repeatedly made public statements which glorify the actions of Hamas and
Hezbollah (whose military wing is proscribed by the UK), and call into question
the existence of Israel. During a speech in Trafalgar Square in 2005 he stated:
It is a matter of time as they [Israel] withdrew from South Lebanon, because of the great Jihad of Hizbollah… and as they withdrew from Gaza,
because of the great Jihad of Hamas and Islamic Jihad!40
A supporter of suicide bombings, in a November 2004 interview with Tim Sebastian on BBC’s Hardtalk, he stated that, were he given the opportunity he would
carry out a suicide bombing against Israel:
Tim Sebastian: So this is the reason – the only thing that is holding you
back from strapping on a suicide belt is the fact that you can’t get back to
the Palestinian territories?
Azzaam al-Tamimi: You see sacrificing myself for Palestine is a noble cause.
It is the straight way to pleasing my God and I would do it if I had the
opportunity.41
In a December 2003 speech in Parliament, Louise Ellman MP said of al-Tamimi:
‘This is not a man of peace. He and his arguments incite hatred against Jews.’42
‘War on Terror Week’: a UCL ISOC event organised by Abdulmutallab which
took place in the week beginning Monday 29 January 2007 and included a
number of speakers:
Moazzam Begg: Director of Cage Prisoners, an organisation which has supported and promoted jihadist preacher Anwar al Awlaki since 2006.43 Since Abdulmutallab’s attempted terrorist attack, a number of media outlets have reported
that Awlaki was the inspiration for the attack and US authorities are investigating
39 ‘Muslim backs terror, claims MP’, Guardian, 19 December 2003
40 Azzam Tamimi speaking at the 2005 al-Quds Day rally, Central London, video available at http://www.youtube.
com/watch?v=zh6q02J6dJk; see also ‘Thousands Mark Al-Quds Day in London’, Islamonline, 31 October 2005,
available at http://www.islamonline.net/English/News/2005-10/31/article01.shtml
41 BBC Hardtalk, first aired 2 November 2004
42 Parliamentary Business, Hansard, 18 December, 2003, available at http://www.parliament.the-stationery-office.
co.uk/pa/cm200304/cmhansrd/vo031218/debtext/31218-18.htm
43 Meleagrou-Hitchens, A. ‘Anwar al-Awlaki: The UK Connection’, Centre for Social Cohesion, September 2009, p.
15
13
Radical Islam on UK campuses
likely ties between the preacher and Abdulmuttalab.44
Begg was an inmate at Guantanamo Bay (2003–2005) though no charges were
brought against him. In 2008, he wrote an essay in which he praised Abdullah
Azzam, Osama bin Laden’s spiritual mentor and the founder of the Makhtab alKhidmat, the organisational precursor to al-Qaeda:
In his magisterial discourse on jihad during the soviet occupation, Defence of the Muslim Lands, the charismatic scholar, Sheikh Abdullah Azzam resurrected the famous 13th century fatwa of Ibn Taymiyyah which
states: ‘As for the aggressive enemy who destroys life and religion, nothing
is more incumbent [upon the believer] after faith than his repulsion.’45
Asim Qureshi: also a leading member of Cage Prisoners, Qureshi gave a speech
at a Hizb ut-Tahrir rally in 2006 in which he praised jihad:
So when we see the examples of our brothers and sisters, fighting in
Chechnya, Iraq, Palestine, Kashmir, Afghanistan, then we know where the
example lies. When we see Hezbollah defeating the armies of Israel, we
know what the solution is, and where the victory lies. We know that it is
incumbent upon all of us to support the jihad of our brothers and sisters
in these countries when they are facing the oppression of the West. Allahu Akbar!46
Yvonne Ridley: a journalist and leading member of the Respect Party, who in
2005 wrote an article which excused the actions of former head of Al-Qaeda in
Iraq, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. On 9 November 2005, Zarqawi’s group carried out
a suicide attack in a Hotel in Amman, Jordan that killed 61 people. Ridley was
heavily critical of members of Zarqawi’s extended family who, after the attack,
moved to condemn his actions:
[T]here is something rather repugnant about some of those who rush to
renounce acts of terrorism.
44 ‘US Probes Cleric’s Ties to Jetliner Bomb Plot’, Wall Street Journal, 31 December 2009; ‘Nigerian with Al-Qaeda
ties tries to blow up US jet’ Associated Press, 25 December 2009; ‘MI5 knew of Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab’s UK
extremist links’, The Sunday Times, 3 January 2010
45 Begg, M., ‘Jihad and Terrorism: A War of the Words’, Arches Quarterly, Summer 2008, available at http://www.
thecordobafoundation.com/attach/Arches_issue_02x_Web.pdf [accessed 18/1/2010]
46 Hizb ut-Tahrir rally, US Embassy in London, 19 August 2006, video available at http://www.youtube.com/
watch?v=DXGPqyK3Srg [accessed 19/1/2010]
14
Radical preachers on UK campuses
They rather remind me of trembling slaves all scuttling forth for the approval of the boss class in the hope of receiving a few crumbs from the
big man’s table […] oh, if only they knew how pathetic they really are.
I was reminded of such a vision just the other day when family members
of Jordanian-born Abu Musab al-Zarqawi renounced the terrorist leader
after he claimed responsibility for the November 9 bomb attacks on three
Amman hotels that killed 61 people.47
In the same article, Ridley referred to the suicide attacks as ‘martyrdom operations’, thus lending them religious legitimacy, and suggested some of the victims
may have deserved their fate:
[W]e cannot simply shrug our shoulders at the deaths of 61 people. But
let’s have a closer look at those who perished: Five of those who died were
Iraqis who were working closely with America: in other words, collaborators. One Saudi, Indonesian and three Chinese intelligence officers were
also wiped out. Shame, but those who live by the sword […]
Interesting though, that the bombers chose the bars serving alcohol for
their martyrdom operations in two of the hotels. Now while we know
alcohol is strictly haram, it’s an Islamic ruling which the King of Jordan
chooses to openly ignore, and in a Muslim country.48
In 2006, Ridley called on Muslims in East London to, ‘…boycott the police and
refuse to co-operate with them in any way, shape or form’. In the speech given
in Newham she said:
From today until this terrorisation of the Muslim community is stopped
immediately, I believe all Muslims should withdraw their support. This
goes from asking the community copper for directions to passing the
time of day with a beat officer. We should enforce non-co-operation.49
‘Know Your Rights’, UCL ISOC event: attended by the CSC on 25 January 2008,
an unannounced speaker argued that Muslims should retaliate by refusing to
cooperate with police on tackling neighbourhood crime:
47 Ridley, Y., ‘Something Rather Repugnant’, Tajdeed, 23 November 2005, archived article available at http://www.
freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1529185/posts [accessed 19/1/2010]
48 Ibid
49 ‘Call to Muslims over police help’, BBC News, 7 June 2006
15
Radical Islam on UK campuses
The police always say ‘Well, we are doing what’s best for the country’. This
is why the police lobby, the security services lobby, have to be watched
very carefully […] We’ll put the word out around the whole streets – everywhere in the country – that Muslims should not co-operate with the police. And what that in fact means is, most of the police’s job isn’t terrorism,
it is ordinary crime. And they know as well that ordinary crime, for which
they need the cooperation of the communities, not just Muslim, but AfroCaribbean, white communities, any of the communities. We say, we’ll put
the word out and campaign that police have become anti-Muslim, they
are political, no one will co-operate with you, all your statistics will go
down the drain, you want to get drug dealers, you want to get burglars,
then we’ll see what we can do.50
Queen Mary University
Bilal Philips (aka Abu Ameenah Bilal Philips): was invited by the ISOC to speak
at its annual dinner on 6 March 2009.51 However, Philips was prevented from
speaking after pressure was exerted by the CSC on university authorities.
Named by the US government as an ‘unindicted co-conspirator’ in the 1993
World Trade Centre bombing, Philips is banned from entering Australia on national security grounds (as of 2007), and was deported from the US in 2004.52
Australian media quote Philips saying that, ‘Western culture, led by the United
States, is the enemy of Islam’.53
In an online video lecture Philips justifies attacks on civilians and suicide bombing as a military tactic:
This is not really considered to be suicide in its true sense. This is a military
action; and human life and sacrifice in that military action. 54
Philips endorses marriage to pre-pubescent girls as well as public executions and
50 Event attended and recorded by the CSC.
51 Promotional material for event in possession of the CSC and available at http://www.socialcohesion.co.uk/
uploads/1235043646campus_events.pdf [accessed 19/1/2010]
52 ‘Radical sheik barred from Australia’, The Age, 4 April 2007
53 Ibid
54 Philips, B., ‘Islam and Terrorism’, [17.30 mins] available at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BzTcJMz0xN0
[accessed 19/1/2010]
16
Radical preachers on UK campuses
stoning and denies marital rape, claiming that in Islam, ‘…a woman is obliged to
give herself to her husband he may not be charged with rape’.55 In a 2007 Channel 4 documentary Philips stated that:
The prophet Muhammad practically outlined the rules regarding marriage prior to puberty, with his practice he clarified what is permissible and
that is why we shouldn’t have any issues about an older man marrying a
younger woman, which is looked down upon by this [Western] society
today, but we know that Prophet Muhammad practiced it, it wasn’t abuse
or exploitation, it was marriage.56
Abu Usama adh Dhahebee: (see UCL entry) has regularly been invited by the
ISOC to speak. Examples include 13 December 2006, 28 February 2007, 14 March
2007, 2 October 2007, 31 October 2007, January 2008, 14 November 2008, and
4 March 2009.57
Abdur Raheem Green: (See UCL entry) spoke at the university on 25 February
2009.58
Haitham al-Haddad: (see UCL entry) was invited by the ISOC to speak on 14
December 2009, twice in March 2008, and on 3 October 2007.59
Murtaza Khan: (see UCL entry) has regularly been invited by the ISOC to speak.
Examples include 25 January 2007, 9 March 2007, 2 October 2007, 26 November
2008, 14 January 2009, and 21 January 2009.60 Khan was also invited by the ISOC
to teach a one month Islamic course at the university from January to February
2008.61
Uthman Lateef: (aka Abu Mujahid, see UCL entry) has regularly been invited
by the ISOC to speak. Examples include 22 November 2006, 24 January 2007,
55 Philips, B., ‘Contemporary Issues’, available at http://www.spittoon.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/bilalphilips.pdf [accessed 19/1/2010]
56 ‘Undercover Mosque’, Channel 4 Dispatches, broadcast January 15 2007
57 These pages have now been removed and archived versions are in possession of the CSC
58 Queen Mary ISOC advert, Ummah.com, 25 February 2009 available at http://www.ummah.com/forum/showthread.php?t=204348 [accessed 19.1.2010]
59 This page has now been removed and an archived version is in possession of the CSC
60 These pages have now been removed and archived versions are in possession of the CSC
61 Queen Mary ISOC advert, Ummah.com forum, available at http://www.ummah.com/forum/showthread.
php?t=150709 [accessed 19/1/2010]
17
Radical Islam on UK campuses
27 February 2007,62 2 October 2007,63 12th December 2007,64 January 2008,65
27 January 2009,66 and 6 February 2009.67 Lateef was also invited by the ISOC to
speak at its annual dinner on 6 March 2009 alongside Bilal Philips.68
Jamal Harwood and Reza Pankhurst (Hizb ut-Tahrir): were invited to an event
entitled ‘Shariah law – compatible in the modern world?’ hosted by a Queen
Mary student society, the Dialogue and Debate Society, on 7 December 2009.69
Hizb ut-Tahrir national executive member and head of legal affairs, Jamal Harwood was scheduled to address students while the meeting was to be chaired
by Reza Pankhurst, a member of Hizb ut-Tahrir jailed in Egypt in 2002. The event
was cancelled after the CSC informed Queen Mary University’s student union
representatives of the speakers’ membership to Hizb ut-Tahrir.
Khalid Yasin: has spoken at over half a dozen universities since January 2008,
including Queen Mary University ISOC on 30 January 2009.70 Yasin preaches religious intolerance, distrust of non-believers and gender inequality:
We Muslims have been ordered to do ‘brainwashing’ because the kuffaar
[…] they are doing ‘braindefiling’ […] You are watching the kaffir TVs, and
your wife is watching right now, and your children are watching it right
now, and they are being polluted, and they are being penetrated, and
they are being infected, so that your children and you go out as Muslims
and come back to the house as kaffirs.
[…]
This whole delusion of the equality of women is a bunch of foolishness.
There’s no such thing.71
62 Queen Mary ISOC lectures 06/07, archived website available at
http://209.85.229.132/search?q=cache:ytP6Nz3Cfg0J:www.queenmaryisoc.com/lectures/lectures06-07.
html+Abdul+Raheem+Green+queen+mary+isoc&cd=3&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=uk&client=firefox-a
63 Queen Mary ISOC advert, Ummah.com forum, 2 October 2008, available at http://www.ummah.com/forum/
showthread.php?t=142573 [accessed 19/1/2010]
64 Queen Mary ISOC advert, Ummah.com forum, 12 December 2007, available at http://www.ummah.com/
forum/showthread.php?t=151035 [accessed 19/1/2010]
65 Queen Mary ISOC advert, 7th Century Generation forum, available at http://www.7cgen.com/index.php?show
topic=19522&pid=328957&mode=threaded&start= [accessed 19/1/2010]
66 Queen Mary ISOC advert, Ummah.com forum, 27 January 2009, available at http://www.ummah.com/forum/
showthread.php?t=200117 [accessed 19/1/2010]
67 Queen Mary ISOC advert, Ummah.com forum, 6 February 2009, available at http://www.ummah.com/forum/
showthread.php?t=201752 [accessed 19/1/2010]
68 Promotional material for event in possession of the CSC
69 Gilligan, A., ‘Hizb ut Tahrir: new tentacles spreading in London’, Telegraph blogs, 7 December 2009
70 Queen Mary ISOC advert, Ummah.com forum, 30 January 2009, available at http://www.ummah.com/forum/
showthread.php?t=200441 [accessed 19/1/2010]
71 ‘Undercover Mosque’, Channel 4 Dispatches, broadcast 15 January 2007
18
Radical preachers on UK campuses
City University
Anwar al-Awlaki: is a pro al-Qaeda preacher based in Yemen with extensive
connections to a number of terrorists and plots, including 9/11.72 He was also
in contact with Major Nidal Hasan, the gunman awaiting trial for the 5 November 2009 attack at Fort Hood, Texas. On his blog, al-Awlaki praised Major Nidal
Hassan’s actions shortly after the event.73 It has also been reported that he met
Abdulmutallab while in Yemen.74
Al-Awlaki encourages Muslims to participate in armed jihad, either in person,
by funding the mujahideen (fighters), or by ‘encouraging others to fight jihad’.75
He states that Muslims are obliged to participate in arms training, and preaches
obligatory hatred for non-Muslims. In a March 2009 lecture entitled ‘State of the
Ummah’, delivered to students in Pakistan, he calls on Muslims to take part in the
fight against troops in Afghanistan and Iraq. His statements include:
Preparing for Jihad is obligatory since Jihad today is obligatory… Arms
training is an essential part of preparation for Jihad.
The hatred of kuffar [non-Muslims] is a central element of our military
creed. We need to realize that Allah will not grant us victory as long as we
still have some love towards his enemies in our hearts. Two of the most important battles that the ummah [Muslim community]
is fighting today is [sic] the battle in Afghanistan, which is spilling over into
Pakistan, and the battle of Iraq. Whoever is capable and able to participate
with them physically, then that should happen… 76
Al-Awlaki was due to feature in a video message for the ISOC’s annual dinner
on 1 April 2009.77 Following written objections from the CSC, City university authorities announced that the event would go ahead but that al-Awlaki would be
prevented from speaking.
72 Meleagrou-Hitchens, A., ‘Anwar al Awlaki: The UK Connection’, Centre for Social Cohesion, September 2009, p.2
73 ‘Fort Hood probe spotlights Web-savvy preacher’, Reuters, 12 November 2009
74 ‘U.S. investigates American-born cleric for ties to bombing attempt’, Chicago Tribune, 31 December 2009
75 Meleagrou-Hitchens, A., ‘Anwar al-Awlaki: The UK Connection’, Centre for Social Cohesion, September 2009,
pp.4-5
76 Ibid, pp.4-5
77 Ibid, p.7
19
Radical Islam on UK campuses
In the university ISOC’s magazine dated August 15 2009, however, there is a
suggestion that the speech did go ahead. The magazine, which also contains
reproductions of al-Awlaki’s blog, gives an overview of recent events:
Our most recent Annual Dinner ’09 was based on the Qur’aan with Shaykh
Haitham al-Haddad, Ustaadh Murtaza Khan and Imaam Anwar al-Awlaki
(pre-recorded message) as the key speakers, as well as a Qari with brilliant
tajweed and a beautiful voice. All praise is for Allaah.78
On 30 August 2009, al-Awlaki was due to address (via-video) an event at the Kensington and Chelsea Town Hall organised by CagePrisoners. Following pressure
from the CSC and other groups the local council prohibited al-Awlaki’s message.
In response the City ISOC obtained a copy of the banned speech and posted it
on their website with the title:
Imaam Anwar al-Awlaki’s address to the Cageprisoners’ ‘Beyond Guantanamo’ dinner, 30th August 2009, Kensington Town Hall
Cageprisoners were prevented from broadcasting this message at the
dinner by Kensington and Chelsea Council.
Well, you can listen to it here…
Alhamdulillaah [praise God]79
Until December 2009, the City ISOC website included a section entitled ‘Scholars
Online’ which provided links to a number of Islamic preachers.80 Included in this
list was a reference to al-Awlaki as a ‘trustworthy scholar’ and a link to his blog.
Among other things, the blog included praise for al-Qaeda linked Somali terrorist group, al-Shabaab and religious justifications for the murder of women and
children.81
On 26 December 2009, a number of media reports suggested that al-Awlaki was
killed in an airstrike in Yemen. On the same day the City ISOC website, on a page
dedicated to al-Awlaki, put up a forum post titled ‘Is Aulaqi Dead? May Allah Protect him and the Muslims’. The post then linked to, and reproduced a transcript
of, a speech by Australian preacher Abu Adnan in which he referred to an attack
on a ‘gathering of staunch al-Qaa’idah soldiers’.82
78 City Islamic Society Magazine, 15 August 2009
79 This page appeared on City ISCO’s website until at least 15 November 2009. Archived versions of the web page
are in possession of the CSC.
80 This was removed in December 2009, archived versions of the site are in possession of the CSC
81 After revelations about al-Awlaki’s links with the Fort Hood attacker Major Nidal Hasanm the blog was
removed from the web. Copies of Awlaki’s full blog, however, are in possession of the CSC.
82 This page has now been removed and archived versions are in possession of the CSC
20
Radical preachers on UK campuses
The same ISOC web page dedicated to al-Awlaki currently contains a recording
of a sermon by al-Awlaki entitled ‘Battle of Yarmook’.83 One of the central themes
in al-Awlaki’s teachings is that of al wala’ wa al-bara’ – a strict wahhabi tenet
which teaches followers unconditional loyalty to all Muslims and enmity toward
all non-Muslims and is a crucial part of jihadist ideology. The ISOC website also
promotes this belief, and reproduces sections of a book entitled ‘Non-Muslim
Religious Celebrations and Ruling on participating’ which tells readers:
One of the most important basic principles of our religion is that of alwalaa’ wa’l-baraa’, loyalty (walaa’) to Islam and its people, and disavowal
(baraa’) of kufr and its people. One of the essential features of this disavowal of kufr and its people is that the Muslim should be distinct from
the people of kufr.84
Mohommad Hassan: in January 2010, was featured prominently on the City
ISOC website.85 At the top of the front page visitors were told: ‘Tune in to cityisoc.
com at 9pm every day to experience the journey through the hereafter […] with
Shaikh Mohammed Hassan’. The site also provides videos of Hassan’s sermons.
During the January 2009 Israeli incursion into Gaza, Hassan gave a sermon in
which he encouraged Muslim governments to build military training camps and
called on Muslim youth worldwide to attend in order to prepare for jihad:
[O]pen military training camps, open camps for volunteer services for the
youth of the Ummah [worldwide Muslim community].
[…]with these camps you will be able to flip all of the scales, you will be
astonished by what you see. So, let the scholars of the Ummah call for the
youth of our Ummah to join the organised camps
[…]waves of youth would come from Europe, from America, from the
Muslim lands to join these camps and at that point America shall see, and
the European Union shall see, and the whole world shall see themselves
before a new counterpoise
[…] they shall see millions from the youth of the ummah who now want
to offer their souls for the cause of Allah.86
83 City ISOC website, available at http://cityisoc.com/tag/anwar/ [accessed 13/1/2010]
84 City ISOC website, available at http://cityisoc.com/3490-common-mistakes-during-the-christmas-season/
[accessed 13/1/2010]
85 City ISOC homepage, available at www.cityisoc.com
86 ‘Muhammad al-Hassan – Advice to the Scholars Regarding Jihad’, YouTube, video available at, http://www.
youtube.com/watch?v=ue6OoJNgMgc
21
Radical Islam on UK campuses
Abu Usama adh Dhahabee: (see UCL entry) was invited by the ISOC to speak
on 4 November 2009.87
Haitham al-Haddad: (see UCL entry) was invited by the ISOC to speak on 4
February 2009.88 He also spoke at the ISOC annual dinner on 1 April 2009.89
Murtaza Khan: (see UCL entry) was invited by the ISOC to speak at its annual
dinner on 1 April 2009.90
School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS)
Anwar al-Awlaki: (see City University entry) was advertised as a speaker for a
series of talks organised by the Muslim Association of Britain (MAB) in conjunction with University of London ISOCs, including SOAS on 18 June 2003.91
Azzam al-Tamimi: (see UCL entry) spoke at SOAS on 9 February 2010 where he
repeated his support for terrorism in Israel:
You shouldn’t be afraid of being labelled extreme, radical or terrorist. If
fighting for your home land is terrorism, I take pride in being a terrorist.
The Koran tells me if I die for my homeland, I’m a martyr and I long to be
a martyr.
[…]Why are the Jews superhuman and better than anyone else that God
would give them a homeland? Is God a racist? A god who would prefer
people because of their race is not a god I want to associate with. Claiming they are being given the land of God is a racist idea.
If the world felt so guilty about the Holocaust, the Jews should have been
compensated, not brought to my country at the expense of my people.
Israel does not belong to my homeland and must come to an end. This
can happen peacefully if they acknowledge what they did — or we will
continue to struggle until Israel is no more.92
87 ‘Storm over extremist preachers’, The Inquirer, 18 November 2009
88 Promotional literature for event in possession of CSC
89 Promotional literature for event in possession of CS.
90 Promotional literature for event in possession of CSC
91 The site advertising this event is now removed and archived versions are in possession of the CSC.
92 ‘Calls for the destruction of Israel at SOAS lecture’, Jewish Chronicle, 11 February 2010
22
Radical preachers on UK campuses
Ibrahim el-Moussaoui: was due to speak at SOAS as part of a course organised
by the university aimed at educating government officials and the police on political Islam, which took place between 23 and 27 March 2009.93
Al-Manar TV, the official media wing of Hezbollah, described el-Moussaoui as a
spokesman for Hezbollah as recently as 21 February 2009.94 In 2002, The New
Yorker reported el-Moussaoui as saying that Jews were ‘…a lesion on the forehead of history’.95 In 2006, when el-Moussaoui was still head of al-Manar’s foreign
department, the US Treasury Department designated the television channel a
Specially Designated Global Terrorist entity.96
El-Moussaoui was prevented from speaking after he was prevented from entering the UK by the Home Secretary following a CSC pledge to seek an arrest warrant were he allowed to enter the country.
Kamal Helbawy: a former leading member of the Muslim Brotherhood, a clerical Islamist organisation, Helbawy was also invited to speak at SOAS’s political
Islam course in March and November 2009.97
In an October 2008 interview on BBC Arabic, Dr. Helbawy questioned whether or
not Israeli children could be classified as civilians:
Dr. Kamal Helbawy: I condemn the targeting of any civilian, but incidentally, I believe that every Israeli civilian is a future soldier.
Interviewer: He is what?
Dr. Kamal Helbawy: A future soldier.
Interviewer: Even if he is two years old?
Dr. Kamal Helbawy: Even if he is a child. A child born in Israel is raised on
the belief that [the Arabs] are like contemptible sheep, and that this is a
93 ‘ School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) to Pay Ibrahim el-Moussaoui to Train Government and Police’,
Centre for Social Cohesion Press Release, 25 February 2009
94 ‘More Violations of UNSCR 1701; Israel Shells Southern Lebanon’, al Manaar website, 21 February 2009
95 Goldberg, J., ‘In the Party of God’, The New Yorker, 14 October 2002
96 ‘U.S. Designates Al-Manar as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist Entity, Television Station is Arm of Hizballah
Terrorist Network’, United State Treasury press release, 23 March 2006
97 SOAS Political Islam course website, available at http://www.soas.ac.uk/enterprise/political_islam/structure.
html [accessed 15/1/2010]
23
Radical Islam on UK campuses
land without a people, and they are a people without a land. They have
very strange concepts. In elementary school, they pose the following
math problem: ‘In your village, there are 100 Arabs. If you killed 40, how
many Arabs would be left for you to kill?’ This is taught in the Israeli curriculum. What would you say about that? Should a child studying this be
considered a civilian? He is a future soldier.98
Ismail Patel: was invited by the ISOC to speak on 18 February 2009.99 Patel has
said that a Palestinian state can only exist at the expense of Israel and refers to
Hamas, proscribed by the US and UK as a terrorist organisation, as ‘…one of the
noblest resistance movements I’ve come across.’100
During a January 2009 protest against Israel’s Operation Cast Lead, Patel gave a
speech in which he again praised Hamas:
Hamas is no terrorist organisation. The reason they hate Hamas is because
they refuse to be subjugated, occupied by the Israeli state, and we salute
Hamas for standing up to Israel.101
In January 2007, Patel wrote an article in which he praised senior Hamas member
Ismail Haniyeh, suggesting that western leaders could learn from him:
Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh, the man elected in those scrupulously free and fair elections, has stood proud and dignified. Alone after
Friday prayers one day in November, he said what no democratic leader
of recent times has said: ‘If the choice is either lifting the siege or Haniyah,
I choose the lifting of the siege.’
[…]No wonder the Western-backed ‘peace process’ has struggled to bring
its version of democracy to Palestine; Western leaders can neither match
nor relate to Haniyeh’s stature as a politician and a human being.102
98 Kemal Helbawy interview with BBC Arabic, 17 October 2008. Video of interview in possession of the CSC
99 Promotional material in possession of the CSC
100 Stuart, H., Thorne, J., Islam on Campus, Centre for Social Cohesion, July 2008
101 Ismail Patel’s speech at a rally organised by the Stop the War Coalition, 10 January 2009, available at http://
www.youtube.com/watch?v=bCLNX9xyd6c
102 Patel, I., ‘The Politics of Power: If Only Tony Blair Could Act Like Ismail Haniyah’, Conflict Forum: Notes and
Comment, Issue 12, January 2007
24
Radical preachers on UK campuses
King’s College London (KCL)
Anwar al-Awlaki: (see City University entry) was advertised as a speaker for a
series of talks organised by the Muslim Association of Britain (MAB) in conjunction with University of London ISOCs, including KCL on 18 June 2003.103
Khalid Yasin: (see Queen Mary entry) was invited by the ISOC to speak on 5
February 2008.104 Yasin was also invited on campus to speak by other university
ISOCs, including Leicester University ISOC on 19 February 2008, Aston University ISOC on 22 February 2008 and the University of Essex ISOC on 7 February
2009.105
University of East London
Haitham al-Haddad: (see UCL entry) was invited by the ISOC to speak on 9
December 2009.106
Abu Usama adh Dhahabee and Uthman Lateef: (see UCL entry) were scheduled to speak at the University of East London (UEL) at the UEL ISOC’s annual dinner on 28 April 2009.107 The event was cancelled after CSC informed the university
authorities of the extremist nature of the speakers. However, no action was taken
to prevent Dhahabee’s appearance at the rescheduled annual dinner on 17 June
2009, despite written notification from the CSC.108
Lateef was also invited to speak by Royal Holloway ISOC on 24 February 2009; 109
Guy’s, King’s and St Thomas School of Medicine ISOC on 11 March 2009;110 and
103 The site advertising this event is now removed and archived versions are in possession of the CSC
104 Promotional material for event in possession of the CSC
105 ‘New Government counter-radicalisation strategy undermined on UK campuses’, Centre for Social Cohesion
Press Briefing 19 February 2009
106 Promotional material for event in possession of the CSC
107 ‘Extremist to speak at University of East London’, Centre for Social Cohesion blog, 17 June 2009, available at
http://www.socialcohesion.co.uk/blog/2009/06/extremist-to-speak-at-university-of-east-london.html [accessed
25/1/2010]
108 Ibid; see also UEL ISOC advert, Ummah.com, available at http://www.ummah.com/forum/showthread.
php?217131-University-of-East-London-ISOC-Presents [accessed 25 January 2010]
109 Islamic Awareness Week, 23-27 February 2009, RHUL ISOC promotional poster, available at http://www.
socialcohesion.co.uk/uploads/1235043646campus_events.pdf [accessed 25/1/2010]
110 ‘Under Siege: A Cry of the People of Palestine’, 27 January 2009 – 11 March 2009, University speaking tour
promotional poster, available at http://www.socialcohesion.co.uk/uploads/1235043646campus_events.pdf
[accessed 25/1/2010]
25
Radical Islam on UK campuses
London South Bank University ISOC on 1 December 2009.111
London School of Economics (LSE)
Anwar al-Awlaki: (see City University entry) was advertised as a speaker for a
series of talks organised by the Muslim Association of Britain (MAB) in conjunction with University of London ISOCs, including LSE on 18 June 2003.112
Reza Pankhurst: (see Queen Mary entry) in January 2010 it was revealed that
Pankhurst is a postgraduate student at LSE who teaches a course entitled ‘States,
Nations and Empires.’113 He also regularly delivers the Friday sermon at campus,
and one member of the ISOC claimed that Pankhurst recommended that worshippers attend Hizb ut-Tahrir meetings:
Last year he [Pankhurst] recommended we should attend a conference
which I later discovered was organised by Hizb ut-Tahrir, but he never
mentions the party by name.114
Imperial College London
Anwar al-Awlaki: (see City University entry) was advertised as a speaker for a series of talks organised by the Muslim Association of Britain (MAB) in conjunction
with University of London ISOCs, including Imperial on 18 June 2003.115
Goldsmiths, University of London
Shakeel Begg: is a chaplain for the Lewisham and Kent Islamic Centre.116 In 2006
The Times reported that Begg had previously told students at Kingston University,
‘You want to make jihad? Very good […] Take some money and go to Palestine
111 LSBU ISOC advert, Ummah.com, 1 December 2009, available at http://www.ummah.com/forum/showthread.
php?236585-London-South-Bank-Islamic-Society-Presents-Murtaza-Khan-Uthman-Lateef-(1-dec-09) [accessed
17/1/2010]
112 The site advertising this event is now removed and archived versions are in possession of the CSC
113 ‘Senior member of extreme Islamist group Hizb ut-Tahrir teaches at LSE’, The Times, 15 January 2010
114 Ibid
115 The site advertising this event is now removed and archived versions are in possession of the CSC
116 Goldsmiths University website, available at http://www.gold.ac.uk/chaplaincy/local-worship/otherfaiths/
[accessed 17/1/2010]
26
Radical preachers on UK campuses
and fight, fight the terrorists, fight the Zionists.’117 Goldsmiths’ ISOC invited Begg
to speak on 18 March 2009 for its annual dinner and on 10 February 2009.118
University of Westminster
Anwar al-Awlaki, Haitham al-Haddad and Murtaza Khan: (see City University
and UCL entry) were invited to speak (al-Awlaki by video-link from Yemen) by the
ISOC on 7 April 2006.119
Kingston University London
Shakeel Begg: (see Goldsmiths entry) was invited by the ISOC to speak on 8
October 2009.120
Murtaza Khan: (see UCL entry) was invited by the ISOC to speak 8 October
2009.121
Ismail Patel: (see SOAS entry) was invited by the ISOC to speak on 24 February
2009.122
London South Bank University
Uthman Lateef and Murtaza Khan: (see UCL entry) were invited to speak at
London South Bank University ISOC on 1 December 2009.123
117 ‘Islamists infiltrate four universities’, The Sunday Times, 12 November 2006
118 ‘On the Shoulders of Giants’, Goldsmiths ISOC Annual Dinner 2009, Goldsmiths ISOC website; ‘The Path to
Paradise’ Goldsmiths ISOC website, both available at http://www.goldsmithsisoc.co.uk/#/audio/4531786065
[accessed 16/1/2010]
119 Meleagrou-Hitchens, A. ‘Anwar al-Awlaki: The UK Connection’, Centre for Social Cohesion, September 2009, p.
7
120 Promotional material for event in possession of the CSC
121 Promotional material for event in possession of the CSC
122 ‘Under Siege: A Cry of the People of Palestine’, 27 January 2009 – 11 March 2009, University speaking tour
promotional poster, available at http://www.socialcohesion.co.uk/uploads/1235043646campus_events.pdf
[accessed 25/1/2010]
123 LSBU ISOC advert, Ummah.com, 1 December 2009, available at http://www.ummah.com/forum/showthread.
php?236585-London-South-Bank-Islamic-Society-Presents-Murtaza-Khan-Uthman-Lateef-(1-dec-09) [accessed
17/1/2010]
27
Radical Islam on UK campuses
Northumbria University
Abu Usama adh Dhahabee: (see UCL entry) was invited by the ISOC to attend
their ‘Diversity Week’ event and speak on 27 January 2010.124 It was reported that
university authorities cancelled his appearance.125
University of Birmingham
Azzam al-Tamimi: (see UCL entry) was invited by the ISOC to speak at its 20
January 2010 event, ‘In Pursuit of Justice: Remember Gaza’.126 The CSC wrote to
Birmingham University informing them of Tamimi’s views. In response, the University’s Director of Academic Services, Brendan Casey, refused to cancel Tamimi’s
appearance, claiming that the university had followed the normal procedures
and its Code of Practice on Freedom of Speech. 127
The University’s Code of Practice states that:
[T]he proportionate and reasonable limitation of expression is permissible
in order to maintain public order and safety or to ensure that there is no
breach of the law. Therefore, the right to free speech is not open-ended
or absolute. The University will, on occasion, have to weigh conflicting
demands for free, public expression of ideas against concerns, on its part,
regarding public order and safety, or the potential for breaches of the law
to occur. The University acknowledges that it has both a legal and a moral
responsibility to act in a proactive manner in order to minimise the possibility that extremism or intolerance will arise on campus whilst, at the
same time, ensuring the general continuance of freedom of speech.128
Al-Tamimi has previously glorified suicide bombings and has praised Hamas and
Hezbollah, two groups that are proscribed by the UK as terrorist organisations.
The event went ahead.
124 Promotional material for event in possession of the CSC
125 ‘LSE’s Hizb ut-Tahrir teacher Reza Pankhurst and the secretive ‘Brothers’ Circle’ ’, The Times, 16 January 2009
126 Promotional material for event in possession of the CSC
127 Letter sent to CSC on 14 January 2010
128 University of Birmingham Code of Practice for Freedom of Speech on Campus, University of Birmingham,
2009-2010, principle 1.7, p.3, available at http://www.as.bham.ac.uk/legislation/docs/COP_Freedom_of_Speech.
pdf [accessed 25/1/2010]
28
Radical preachers on UK campuses
Abu Usama adh Dhahabee: (see UCL entry) was invited to address the ISOC’s
‘Charity Eid Dinner’ on 2 December 2009.129
Federation of Student Islamic Societies (FOSIS)
Anwar al-Awlaki: (see City university entry) FOSIS described al-Awlaki as a ‘distinguished’ guest for its 2003 annual conference at the University of Nottingham.130
Haitham al-Haddad: (see UCL entry) spoke at the 2009 FOSIS annual conference at the University of Birmingham on 20 June.131
Riyadh ul-Haq: (see UCL entry) also spoke at the 2009 FOSIS annual conference
at the University of Birmingham on 20 June.132
Yahya Ibrahim: In February 2009, FOSIS organised a speaking tour for Yahya
Ibrahim of British universities. Ibrahim was scheduled to speak at the University
of Birmingham, Goldsmiths University, Queen Mary University and the University
of Warwick.133
Ibrahim, who was banned from the US in 2005, believes that Jews and Christians
are trying to turn Muslims away from Islam, and that AIDS is a form of punishment for pre-marital sex. His statements include:
Never, never will the Jews and the Christians be satisfied or content or
pleased with you until you follow them and their religion. These are the
words of Allah and Allah does not just stop there but he orders us to do
something. Say to them, verily we will not follow thee. Allah is telling us,
say to them, the guidance of Allah is the only guidance to be followed.
And this is what I wish to speak to you about today in short words. I wish
to speak to you about how they are trying to influence us, how the disbelievers are trying to take us from our religion […]
129 Promotional material for event in possession of the CSC
130 Meleagrou-Hitchens, A. ‘Anwar al-Awlaki: The UK Connection’, Centre for Social Cohesion, September 2009,
p.8
131 FOSIS website, available at http://fosis.org.uk/events/events-archive/details/48-fosis-annual-conference-2009
[accessed 17/1/2010]
132 Ibid
133 FOSIS official website, available at http://fosis.org.uk/events/events-archive/details/22-stories-of-the-prophets
[17/1/2010]
29
Radical Islam on UK campuses
We see people who are committing zina, committing fornication, and Allah punishes them by giving them diseases like AIDS.134
Ismail Patel: (see SOAS entry) was invited by FOSIS to speak at its 2003 annual
conference at the University of Nottingham.135
Azzam al-Tamimi: (see UCL entry) was given three separate platforms at universities as part of the FOSIS Palestine conference in 2008.136 Al-Tamimi was also invited by FOSIS to its 2003 annual conference at the University of Nottingham.137
134 ‘How the kuffar try to put out the Light of Islam’, Yahya Ibrahim audio lecture, available at http://www.
islamicinvitationcentre.com/audio/Yahya_Ibrahim/How_the_kuffar_try_to_put_out_the_Light_of_Islam/
How_the_kuffar_try_to_put_out_the_Light_of_Islam.htm [accessed 25/1/2010]
135 The site advertising this event is now offline and archived versions are in possession of the CSC
136 Palestine Conference website, available at http://palestine-conference.com [accessed 17/1/2010]; ‘The UK
government and Muslim students’, Centre for Social Cohesion Press Briefing, 27 October 2008
137 The site advertising this event is now offline and archived versions are in possession of the CSC
30
Muslim student opinion on campus
Islam on Campus – Centre for Social Cohesion/YouGov
survey, 2008
Islam on Campus, a 2008 report by the CSC, remains the most comprehensive
survey undertaken of student opinion towards Islam in the UK, based on a specially commissioned YouGov poll of over 600 Muslim students, 800 non-Muslim
students, fieldwork and interviews. The report examines students’ attitudes to
key issues including: killing in the name of religion; establishing a worldwide
Caliphate; introducing Sharia law to the UK; setting up an Islamic political party
in the UK; gender equality; the treatment of apostates and homosexuals; and the
compatibility of Islam with secularism and democracy.
While the majority of Muslim students are tolerant towards other groups, support secularism and democratic values and reject violence in the name of their
faith, Islam on Campus also uncovered the following:
✦
Almost a third (32%) of Muslim students polled said killing in the name of
religion was ever justified.
✦
A third (33%) of Muslim students polled declared they were supportive of
a worldwide Islamic Caliphate based on Sharia law.
✦
Two fifths (40%) of Muslim students polled supported the introduction of
Sharia law into British law for Muslims.
✦
Two thirds (66%) of Muslim students polled said they had lost respect for
the British government because of the invasion of Iraq.
✦
Almost a third (30%) of Muslim students polled also said their respect for
British society had increased based on the public’s (largely negative) reaction to the Iraq war.
✦
A quarter (25%) of Muslim students (and 32% of male Muslim students)
31
Radical Islam on UK campuses
polled said they had ‘not very much’ or ‘no respect at all’ for homosexuals.
✦
Almost a quarter (24%) of Muslim student respondents did not think that
men and women are equal in the eyes of God.
✦
Two fifths (40%) of Muslim students polled felt it unacceptable for Muslim
men and women to associate freely.
✦
6% of Muslim students polled said that converts from Islam should be
punished ‘in accordance with Sharia law.’
The poll results also indicated that a large proportion of Muslim students, up
to 40 percent depending on the question, are undecided on key issues such as
the legitimacy of religious violence, respecting others and whether Islam is compatible with secularism. Many of these individuals could either be won over to
intolerant Islamist ideologies or to secular, democratic understandings of Islam.
Effects of active Islamic Society membership on attitudes
towards key issues
While the majority of Muslim students show tolerance towards other minorities, reject violence in the name of their faith, and support Britain’s secular and
democratic society as well as its system of governance, there are also reasons for
concern.
Islam on Campus also found that active membership in ISOCs appeared to have
a significant effect on the religious beliefs, social networks and overall worldview of Muslim students polled, as well as their attitudes toward non-Muslims,
women, and minorities. Active ISOC members – defined as those who are on the
executive or attend ‘all’ or ‘most’ events – make up just over a tenth of Muslim
students in the UK.
Killing in the name of religion: Active ISOC members polled were more than
twice as likely as non-members to say that ‘it is justifiable to kill in the name of
religion’.
✦
Just under a third of Muslim students polled (32%) said killing in the name
of religion can be justified – the majority of these (28% of all respondents)
32
Muslim student opinion on campus
said killing could be justified ‘only if the religion was under attack’, and 4%
of all respondents supported killing, ’in order to promote and preserve
that religion’.
✦
Three fifths (60%) active ISOC members said killing in the name of religion can be justified. One in ten (11%) felt it acceptable to kill in order
to promote and preserve that religion and nearly half (49%) said it was
acceptable only if that religion was under attack.
Apostasy: Active ISOC members were almost three times more likely to believe
that Muslims who decide to leave Islam ‘should be punished according to Sharia
law’.
✦
Half (50%) of Muslim students polled said they would be unsupportive
of a friend’s decision to leave Islam. A quarter (25%) said they would be
supportive. A minority (6%) said that apostates should be ‘punished in
accordance with Sharia’.
✦
One in six (16%) active ISOC members advocated punishing apostates in
accordance with Sharia, and a further three fifths (61%) said that apostates
should be encouraged to reconsider their decision. By contrast, two fifths
(41%) of non-ISOC members said that apostates should be left alone.
The importance of the hijab: Active ISOC members were twice as likely as nonmembers to believe that wearing the hijab was an important part of Islam rather
than a personal choice.
✦
Active ISOC members (51%) were twice as likely as non-members (25%)
to say agree with the statement ‘women should wear the hijab – female
modesty is an important part of Islam’.
✦
Just over two fifths (42%) of active ISOC members chose that statement ‘it
is up to the individual Muslim woman as to whether or not she chooses
to wear the hijab’ instead as compared to two thirds (67%) of non-members.
33
Radical Islam on UK campuses
Support for Sharia law in the UK and a worldwide Caliphate:138 Active ISOC
members were also nearly twice as likely to support the introduction of Sharia
into British law and more than twice as likely to support the introduction of ‘a
worldwide caliphate based on Sharia law’.
✦
Two fifths (40%) of Muslim students polled supported the introduction
of Sharia into British law for Muslims. A third (33%) of Muslim students
polled supported the introduction of a worldwide Caliphate based on
Sharia law
✦
Over two thirds (65%) of active ISOC members compared to 36% of nonISOC members supported the introduction of Sharia into British law for
Muslims. Two fifths (40%) of active ISOC members said they were ‘very’
supportive of the introduction as compared to 16% of non-members
who said the same.
✦
A majority of active ISOC members polled (58%) said they supported the
introduction of a worldwide Caliphate – a third (32%) said they were very
supportive and a quarter (26%) fairly supportive. Only a quarter (26%) of
non-ISOC members supported this.
Islam as a political project: Active ISOC members were over twice as likely to
subscribe to Islamist beliefs.
✦
Almost one in three active ISOC members (32%) said that Islam (religion)
and Islamism (political ideology) were part of the same thing, and that
politics is a big part of Islam. Only 13% of non-ISOC members agreed.
Isolation on campus: Active ISOC members are much more likely to say that
most of their friends are Muslim.
✦
8% of Muslim students agree that ‘Most of my friends at university are
Muslim because I have more in common with them than I do with nonMuslims. However, this rises to 25% when active members of campus
ISOCs are asked.
138 Poll respondents were asked a series of questions concerning Sharia, aiming to gauge whether they
considered Sharia as immutable or open to interpretation. Because of Sharia’s centrality to Islam, flexibility on it is
arguably evidence of flexibility on the religion as a whole. Activity in an ISOC – and the arguable corresponding
familiarity with Islamic doctrine – seems to be the main factor influencing poll respondents’ views on Sharia.
34
Muslim student opinion on campus
Muslim soldiers:
✦
75% of active ISOC members believed that Muslims in the British army
should be allowed to opt out of conflicts in Muslim countries, compared
to 52% of non-ISOC members.
Religious observance: Active ISOC members polled were more likely to be
religiously observant on campus, being three times more likely than non-ISOC
members polled to always attend Friday prayers. Half of active ISOC members
polled visited the prayer-room more than once a day, compared to only 12
percent of non-members. They were also more likely to say that ISOCs are ‘an
important voice’ for Muslim students, compared to non-members, who did not
rate ISOCs’ importance so highly.
Reactions to CSC’s Islam on Campus report
University student bodies, including the NUS and FOSIS, as well Bill Rammell, then
Minister for Higher Education and a number of Islamist organisations, dismissed
the CSC report and denied the problem of student radicalisation on university
campuses.
FOSIS issued a press release on 28 July 2008 stating:
The latest report on British Muslim students by the Centre for Social Cohesion serves only to strengthen bigots and demagogues keen to sow
discord amongst British people […] we reject their conclusions utterly. 139
Wes Streeting, President, National Union of Students, at FOSIS’ annual conference, summer 2009 stated:
The CSC […] set out to basically tarnish all Islamic societies as being
breeding grounds of terror and basically saying ‘keep an eye on Muslims
on campus as they are likely to cause lots of trouble’ […] the last thing we
need is a right wing think tank coming along and actually undermining
the fantastic work that goes on in Islamic societies, to promote social co139 ‘Joint Statement – A Divisive Study for Divisive Ends’, FOSIS press release, signatories included Wes Streeting –
President, National Union of Students; Muhammed Abdul Bari – Secretary General, Muslim Council of Britain; Faisal
Hanjra – President, The Federation of Student Islamic Societies.
35
Radical Islam on UK campuses
hesion, to find places for religious expression and to champion the education and welfare of Muslim students on campus, so I set out to stand side
by side, with FOSIS, in opposing that report […]140
On 7 August 2008, Bill Rammell, the then Minister for Higher Education, wrote:
I’m pleased at the speed with which groups such as the Federation of
Student Islamic Societies, Universities UK, the National Union of Students
and other political parties have dismissed the findings of the Centre for
Social Cohesion report on campus extremism. Our challenge is to work
together as a society to isolate and challenge the tiny minority of people
who advocate or undertake terrorist acts.141
Qasim Rafiq, Abdulmutallab’s successor as president of UCL ISOC in 2007-2008,142
issued a FOSIS press release in December 2009 criticising the BBC for citing Islam
on Campus while reporting that members of the radical group Hizb ut-Tahrir had
been invited to speak at Queen Mary. Rafiq also denied that Islamic extremism
was prevalent on UK university campuses:
Following a BBC article on the recent decision by a Queen Mary student
society to reschedule a planned event with Hizb-ut-Tahrir speakers, it is
unfortunate that in the article, BBC have referred to Queen Mary University as a concern for Islamic extremism on the basis of the widely discredited Centre of Social Cohesion (CSC) “Islam on Campus” report.? […] There
is no substantial evidence to suggest extremism is prevalent on any UK
campus and the constant reference to this does nothing but sever community cohesion on campus.143
140 Event attended and recorded by the Centre for Social Cohesion
141 ‘Fostering free debate’, letter from Bill Rammell MP, The Times Higher Education Supplement, 7 August 2008
142 ‘Don’t blame us, says student Islamic society’, Independent, 25 January 2010.
143 ‘FOSIS disappointed by BBC article citing widely discredited report’, FOSIS press release, 10 December
2009, available at http://fosis.org.uk/media/press-releases/644-fosis-disappointed-by-bbc-article-citing-widelydiscredited-report [accessed 25/1/2010]
36
Clutha House, 10 Storey’s Gate,
London SW1P 3AY
Tel: +44 (0)20 722 28 909
Fax: +44 (0)56 015 27 476
Email: [email protected]
www.socialcohesion.co.uk
O
n Christmas Day 2009 Umar Farouk
Abdulmutallab attempted to detonate
explosives on a Northwest Airlines
flight over the American city of Detroit.
Abdulmutallab was a student at the University
College London from 2005-08, where he
was allegedly radicalised, and president
of the student union’s Islamic society
between 2006-07.
A bdulmutallab is the not the first student at
a UK university to become involved in violent
Islamism. For many years it has been clear that
British university campuses are breeding
grounds of Islamic extremism – there have been
several high-profile cases where students
or graduates took part in Islamism-inspired
terrorist attacks or were convicted for
terrorist offences.
For the first time Radical Islam on UK Campuses
catalogues the widespread influence of
political Islam on British universities since
2005 where hate preachers are regularly
invited by Islamic societies. Islamic extremism
on campuses not only continues unabated,
it continues – as this report demonstrates –
to flourish.
£8.00